Apple Unveils Redesigned iMac

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Call it what you will– a desk lamp, an igloo, a Martian communications devicebut the new iMac again breaks new ground in industrial design, according to attendees of the MacWorld show in San Francisco.

The new iMacfirst revealed to Time magazine in exchange for several thousand copies of the issue presented to attendeesis a replacement for the three-year-old iMac, of which 6 million have been sold, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Jobs debuted several enhancements to the Mac product line, including a new iPhoto package, a new 14-inch iBook, new Adobe AfterEffects software, and a commitment to include Mac OS X on all new shipping products. But it was the new iMac, already hinted at by Mac enthusiasts, that captured audience attention.

“It’s fabulous, more than I expected,” said Luis Monteiro, a student who took time out from a visit from Brazil to visit the show. “The design was completely different than what I expected.” Monteiro’s only disappointment was that the new machines wouldn’t be available in Brazil, where the taxes and exchange rates would raise the price significantly.

The new designa “technical tour de force”, according to Jobswas the result of years of design. The company wanted to build a flat-panel iMac, but had to consider design features such as those imposed on optical drives, which spin faster when mounted vertically. The new iMac is about the height of a CD “jewel case, or 12.95 inches, with a circular base that’s just under 11 inches in diameter.

“There was a lot of really smart people working pretty hard on this,” Jobs told the assembled MacWorld crowd, which applauded, screamed, and cheered at various points. “We wanted this to be perfect for you and I think we got pretty close.”

Apple will build three models of the new iMac. First, Apple will ship its fastest and most expensive machine this month, boasting an 800-MHz G4 processor, 256-Mbytes of memory, a 60-Gbyte hard drive, and the SuperDrive, which can read and write CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and DVD-Rs, for $1,799. A scaled down model including a 700-MHz chip, 40-Gbyte hard drive and CD-RW drive will ship for $1,499 in February. A model with a 700-MHz G4 processor, 128 Mbytes of memory, a 40-Gbyte hard drive, and a CD-RW drive, will be the cheapest and last introduced, in March, for $1,299.

All of the new iMac models will feature a 15-inch 1024×768 LCD, which can swivel up and down and right and left by 180 degrees, according to the specifications found on Apple’s web site. The machines will also include the GeForce2 MX graphics chip from Nvidia Corp., Jobs said. The new iMacs can be upgraded byn removing the base of the machine, and feature a built-in AirPort antenna and card.

“I’m overcome and overwhelmed,” said Greg Jones, president of Wild West Marketing, a web design firm in San Diego, Calif. “I’m very proud to be here.”

“It’s excellent for Apple,” said Charles Vandeman, president of Garamind, a content-creation and training firm in Tustin, Calif. Although Vandeman said he was shopping for a higher-end machine than the iMac, he said the redesigned iMac would help Apple’s chances of targeting the 95 percent of the market that doesn’t own a Macintosh.

Apple will also be shipping a new iBook, Jobs said, featuring a 14-inch display. The “big brother” to the existing iBook will include a 600 MHz G4 CPU,256 Mbytes of memory, and is 1.35-inches thick, even with a 6-hour battery. The new iBook costs $1,799.

Apple’s strategy, spelled out in previously conferences and analyst meetings, is to create a “digital hub”m connecting devices like DVD players, digital cameras, and MP3 players with Apple’s technology to make the devices simple to use and understand. That rationale is the basis behind iPhoto, Apple’s latest software.

When users take digital photos, Jobs said, they are used to downloading them, editing them, then printing themthe so-called “chain of pain”. What users really want to do, Jobs said, is organize and share them. iPhoto automatically connects to the digital cametra via a USB cable, synchronizes the photos into the application, then allows users to organize them, shrinking or enlarging the thumbnail images for easy viewing. The software then is designed to seamlessly print the images on the attached printer, eliminating the complex tweaking that an average user may find frustrating.

More importantly for Apple, iPhoto also includes two services directly from Apple that will serve as additional money-making opportunities: a photo-printing service, and the ability to order a hard-bound book with a user’s photos pre-printed in a variety of templates. The photos range in price, but the linen-bound books cost $29.99 for a ten-page book, then $3 per additional page. The delievery time for the books is about one week, Jobs said, and the iPhoto software is available as a free download, but can only be used with Mac OS X.

The remaining software announcements were somewhat of a disappointment for Apple attendees. Adobe Photoshop for Mac OS X is coming “soon”, said Shantanu Narayan, executive vice-president at Adobe in San Jose. However, the firm announced AfterEffects 5.5 for the Mac, Adobe GoLive 6.0 web authoring software, and Adobe LiveMotion 2.0 graphics and animation tool.

In addition, Palm Computing announced new tools to make synchronization of Macs simpler, and game porter Aspyr Media said that Star Wars: Galactic Battelgrounds and Return To Castle Wolfenstein would be ported to the Mac.

As is his wont, Jobs saved the bestthe new iMacfor last, banishing fears that MacWorld 2002 might be a disappointment. “I thought the presentation was brilliant,” said Matthey Yrigoyen, president of Laughing Turtle Studios. “It’s all about ease of use.”

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